Protests sweep Tehran after shooting down Ukrainian plane

Islam Mohamed

Fiasco hit Iran’s plans to make gains after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head Iran’s elite Quds military force who was killed by a US drone attack. The mullah regime’s fiasco has triggered a number of losses, especially as protests erupted in Tehran again on Saturday.

Students rallied in Tehran calling for the toppling of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, following Iran’s admission of shooting down a Ukrainian passenger aircraft.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Saturday that he wished he was dead when he heard that his forces have downed a Ukrainian plane.

Hajizadeh said Iran’s air defense systems had been put on the “highest level of readiness” and alerted to a possible cruise missile attack prior to the plane crash incident.

Iranian citizens said a son of a top officer of the Revolutionary Guard Corps was among the passengers. The Iranians said the man had classified documents which contained leaks, and the pilot refused to land at the request of the Iranian authorities.

Eighty-two Iranians were killed in the Ukrainian plane crash, in addition to 50 people were killed in a stampede as Iranians gathered for the burial of Soleimani. The latest developments have wasted away the regime’s efforts to mobilize the public and overcome domestic divide.

Iran fired missiles at US military bases, leaving no deaths or even injuries among the US troops in Iraq. Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran had retaliated for the killing of Soleimani and wouldn’t seek any escalation with the US.

That has angered the Iranian people. Moreover, the downing of the Ukrainian plane has exacerbated the situation, especially after the regime admitted shooting down the plane.

It’s noteworthy that around 1,500 Iranian people were killed and thousands of other citizens were injured in massive demonstrations that swept the country in November.